Microsoft is building wooden data centers in its latest effort to reduce emissions – could this be the future of AI power?

Steel and concrete, the traditional materials used in data center construction, are major carbon emitters, but in a move toward sustainability, Microsoft is testing fire-resistant cross-laminated timber (CLT) in its first wood-based data centers near a northern suburb of Virginia.

The company says this project is part of an β€œall hands on deck” effort to achieve the company’s ambitious climate goals of being carbon negative by 2030 and offsetting all emissions since inception by 2050.